Jessai Flores, Illustrations Editor

This piece was published as part of the News’ 2022 Lifting Up Latinx Identity special issue, celebrating Latinx Heritage Month from Sep. 15 to Oct. 15.

Norman Rockwell once imagined the American family as the scene of a Thanksgiving supper—relatives frozen in conversation and eying the turkey. Inspired by Rockwell, I too imagined the American family. One that looks like mine and eats the same food that I do. At the dinner table, heritage and tradition are made tangible. They lie in the embroidery of an apron. They rest in the clay curves of earthenware dishes. They are celebrated in the offering of a lime, the unfolding of a corn husk and the tearing of hot tortillas. Food is the love we share and the stories we pass down. I, like Rockwell, offer you a family at dinnertime. A family just like any other, connected by invisible bonds and partaking in the recipes of the history that flow through them.

Jessai Flores, Illustrations Editor